I Couldn't Believe My Ears!

[PrincessMentality]

So how much do you plan on tipping?

Why is this any of your business?

 

[cmurray234]

I hate the "gratuity added automatically" policy. I realize why they do it. I know that when you get parties of 8, people suddenly forget how to do math and throw in a $20 for their $18 meal and call it even.

And I know that the waitstaff lives off their tips and basically nothing else. But at the end of the day, in my eyes, tipping is payment for good service and I don't like somebody telling me I HAVE to give 18%.

 

[Nancyg56]

I hate the "gratuity added automatically" policy. I realize why they do it. I know that when you get parties of 8, people suddenly forget how to do math and throw in a $20 for their $18 meal and call it even.

And I know that the waitstaff lives off their tips and basically nothing else. But at the end of the day, in my eyes, tipping is payment for good service and I don't like somebody telling me I HAVE to give 18%.

I believe that the larger parties tend to take more of the servers table space for the evening and if they undertipped or stiffed the server that person would be paying to wait on the table.

One of the problems working in a vacation resort is that there are people who will have no issue taking a servers time and effort and then leaving very little for the tip. After all, the server will never see them again so who cares? I think that Disney is trying to follow the same policy that many restaurants follow by auto-tipping larger parties in order to protect their servers. For those of us who tip the norm unless service is bad it may be considered adn insult to be told how much to leave a server but for those who would trot off without a second thought this is a necessary precaution. Think about it, the OP has not said she would undertip but how many people would divide their family on a vacation dinner in order to save a minimal amount of money? The total tip is under $50 if her family sits at one table. Would you separate to save $5? $10? And not be able to even gaurantee that you will be seated at teh same time in the same area?

My DH hates the auto gratuity and since we seldom undertip and must have a good reason for that he is entitled to be a little miffed. I supportted my family when i was a young mother by waiting tables and I can understand why this process is in place.

 

[diberry]

I bussed their tables

I just learned some new American English! (though I had to Google to find out what it meant). Does anybody know why you call it bussing?

BTW, and this is slightly off the point, I recall a waitress at Jellyrolls on the Boardwalk telling us in no uncertain terms that we had to tip each round of drinks. We didn't know that as we don't do that in UK - and she was not pleasant about it. I also overheard a bartender at CBR saying to someone that his heart sank when he heard a British accent because it meant he wouldn't get a proper tip. It's just that we don't have the same way of doing things, not that we're mean (though some probably are!). I think most people in UK find 18 - 20% a huge amount to tip but if people ask or explain nicely what the custom is, then I'm sure most people would do it.

 

[maxiesmom]

Why is this any of your business?

Why do you care if she asks? The OP doesn't have to answer is she doesn't want to. Though changing an ADR around so that you don't have to pay the mandatory tip does seem to open the question up for debate.

 

[mariepapa]

I just learned some new American English! (though I had to Google to find out what it meant). Does anybody know why you call it bussing?

BTW, and this is slightly off the point, I recall a waitress at Jellyrolls on the Boardwalk telling us in no uncertain terms that we had to tip each round of drinks. We didn't know that as we don't do that in UK - and she was not pleasant about it. I also overheard a bartender at CBR saying to someone that his heart sank when he heard a British accent because it meant he wouldn't get a proper tip. It's just that we don't have the same way of doing things, not that we're mean (though some probably are!). I think most people in UK find 18 - 20% a huge amount to tip but if people ask or explain nicely what the custom is, then I'm sure most people would do it.

Well, that is just downright rude! In Europe it is not common to tip. The "tip" is built into the cost of the item to begin with. I hate to think that many Europeans come over to WDW and feel bad because CMs complain that they aren't tipping enough! They shouldn't be making guests feel bad when it is a cultural difference!!!!!

And a server that goes out and complains to a guest saying the tip wasn't high enough? Horrible.

Servers do deserve high tips for good service. But you cannot simply force people to pay. They either will or they won't. People are cheap or they are generous. End of story.

 

[PrincessMentality]

Why do you care if she asks? The OP doesn't have to answer is she doesn't want to. Though changing an ADR around so that you don't have to pay the mandatory tip does seem to open the question up for debate.

I could also ask why YOU care if I ask why its his/her business

Asking how much the OP plans to tip is just unnecessary and has absolutely nothing to do with the thread. I never understand why people inside of a computer feel they're entitled to so much information.

 

[FayeW]

I despise the tipping practices in the United States. It boggles my mind that not only does your government allow businesses to pay employees far less than minimum wage, they seem to encourage it, AND make presumptions on tax payable based on sales, rather than how much somebody actually received in gratuities! Unfreakinreal. Somehow, in Canada, we manage to pay our waitstaff minimum wage (at least in every restaurant, in 3 different provinces, that I have worked in) and our restaurant prices are not much different than yours.

However, when in Rome, I do as the Romans. We just eat very few table service meals at WDW because, frankly, it bothers me to have to tip $15-$20 for our meals. We do it, but I don't like it, so as a result we only eat 1-2 TS meals. Have never booked a character meal or buffet because they are not worth the money (and the corresponding inflated tip) for my family. We suck up the cost for 'ohanas because at least there we are being served our meal, and we enjoy the entertainment.

 

[Coach81]

 

[SteffM]

We are also a party of six (could be eight ). We have been places that add gratuity. Most of the time, service is horrible. I don't agree with adding gratuity. You don't get a bonus at work for sitting on your a$$ not doing your job, why should wait staff be any different? I have family members that are in the restaurant business. If we receive excellent service, we have left tips up to 25%. If we get horrible service, we still leave a tip, usually whatever change we have in our pockets. I am so nervous about getting horrible service but am willing to overlook it because of where we will be. We have quite a few TS restaurants that we will be going to. Someone posted about the luau-I thought the luau already had a tip included? Do what you need to for your family .

 

[Belle & Ariel]

It's amazing to me how some on here can be so hateful yet claim to be generous tippers.

 

[RMulieri]

It's amazing to me how some on here can be so hateful yet claim to be generous tippers.

Hang around here long enough and you will see all sorts of unbelievable behavior

 

[kamik86]

I don't like the auto gratuities just because if I have poor service i want to be able to leave less of a tip. The result is that although I still go to the restaurant now if you give me bad service I'm going to tell your manager how bad things were.

I also do realize not everything is the waitresses fault. For example last night when my husband and I went out my husband had to send his steak tips back TWICE because they were pink (the first time was REALLY bad, the second was how I like them but still not well done and even the waitress who stayed to see if they were ok said immediately when he but into it that she was going to bring it back again). However the waitress was great and even gave him a free dessert for it. She still got a good tip.

On the other hand there was a day where I went with my parents and we called ahead, checked in at the desk and was told it would be a bit of a wait... then we waited and waited and waited I went up to complain and they had us crossed off even though they didn't seat us or ring our buzzer thing. So we are already quite annoyed when we get to the table. Then the waitress keeps taking forever to see us. Doesn't have silverware at the table and takes forever to bring it. Brings us dirty dishes for our appetizers that we have to send back with another waitress because ours is no where around. Fails my waitress test (called this because it is a pet peeve of mine, if I ask for water with lemon and it comes without lemon your tip goes down because at the very least I expect you to listen to me). She got a VERY tiny tip... like enough to make us realize that we thought about it but not enough to really count.

 

[drgreene1096]

It is my decision to decide who, where, and how much to tip. At a buffet, I order water, which I may take one or two drinks of, and I eat one plate of food. I get my own food, I clean up my daughters mess on the table, if she makes one, and none of our party ever has a drink refill. So I am supposed to tip 20% for the server to do virtually nothing??

TIP -- To Insure Promptness/Politeness!

I also base my percentage on that . . .even if my table doesn't require much work.

 

[goofy4prez]

This thread just made my lunch; now to go find a thread on foreign tour groups, line hoping, pool hoping, or holding a table at a cs restaurant.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

So if you split up your group so you would save the 18% gratuity, aren't you going to be spending more on the tip then? I mean if you leave the minimum of 10% at each table, that's 20%, which would be more or are you planning on leaving less than 10% without knowing how good or poor your service is going to be? I guess I don't understand how splitting up your group is going to save you money.

I know someone already answered you but no you don't add the 10 and 10 to equal 20. It's like when the mall has a 50% off clearance sale and say the item is $20 so now you pay $10 but when you get the register they tell you there is an additional 10% off the already reduced price. So you don't get 60% off of $20. You get 50% off and then 10% off of $10.

These are the reasons why my DH helps my DD with her math homework!

I am awful with math so I hear you. I can barely count change, my brain just goes haywire. But hubby has problems with spelling and english and I'm a wiz so we just divide and concur on the homework .

 

[pilesoflaundry]

This thread just made my lunch; now to go find a thread on foreign tour groups, line hoping, pool hoping, or holding a table at a cs restaurant.

You forgot about reusable mugs. Oops I mean refillable mugs.

 

[surfergirl602]

I'm very surprised this thread hasn't been locked yet!

I have to say that I am against mandatory tipping. We have found that our service for large parties has been seriously lacking. As if they know they are getting a tip, so why should they bother even showing up? Our service at Ohana was so bad that we spoke with the manager and she gave us our dining credits back so that we could get something to eat at our resort - we left hungry because the food/service was so bad. We literally saw our server to take our drink orders and to give us our check. it was bad. We are going this next trip with 8 people - 4 of them being children, one an infant, and I don't feel that people that don't eat the food should be included in the automatic tip. Two of my children won't be eating and food in the rest. so why should I tip for them? Just doesn't make sense. And the buffets we've eaten at we've had stacks of plates just sitting there, no drink refills, and we've gotten all our own food. We have rarely ever seen our server. I guess we've just never lucked out in getting good service at places! When we do get good service, we always tip above and beyond. Rewarding good work is high on our list. BUT I want the option to be able to determine what I think that person deserves to get for a tip. just because my bill is such and such an amount, depending on what you did for me, should determine the amount of my money that I give to you for it. We had a great server at 1900 park fare and he thanked us personally as we were leaving for the good tip we gave him. He entertained our children while we were waiting, made sure they got to see cinderella and charming dance, and even asked him if one of our dd's could dance with him because she was too shy to ask. She was able to, and she still talks about it over a year later. He was amazing.

 

[goofy4prez]

You forgot about reusable mugs. Oops I mean refillable mugs.

I also forgot about whether to give up a seat on the bus for the elderly, sick, handicapped, or pregnant woman. That one is always a hot issue as well.

 

[Disneyadore]

we tip properly at WDW. 18-20% is the proper amount even at a buffet. We don't try to cheat the server out of their tip either.

We payed around 80 $$ per tip at several restaurant last week for 5 persons.
We met the most wonderful servers and me niece got a bag of goodies to take home from the waiters that made our ears spin around. Do good meets get good behavior is an old saying.